July 4, 2023
Are conservative voices being censored on the internet?
In a rare 4th of July ruling — a federal judge– at least temporarily – said yes and blocked the federal government from coordinating or even communicating with social media companies when it comes to “protected speech” issues.
That means the Department of Justice, State Department, Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, FBI, and about a dozen government officials cannot meet, contact, email, or coordinate with social media companies, to flag content to urge the companies to take it down, cannot encourage social media companies to change their guidelines for content removal and so much more.
Last year a lawsuit was filed by the attorneys general from GOP led states – Louisiana and Missouri – using an interesting tactic. Instead of going after the social media companies they went after the federal government saying government officials went too far in their efforts to encourage social media companies to address posts that would be considered as election or health misinformation. The suit actually says the groundwork for what they call “censorship enterprise” to control speech on social media began under the Trump administration and the Biden administration followed through with it.
In his order, the judge made some exceptions for communications between the government officials and the social media companies including to warn them of national security threats, criminal activity or voter suppression.
Legal experts say this ruling – though only a preliminary injunction– is really broad and could negatively impact other coordinating that the government and social media companies have done to address all kinds of other criminal activity and child exploitation online.
The Justice Department reacted to today’s ruing by saying the actions taken by the administration have only “promoted responsible actions to protect public health, safety, and security.”
This is a preliminary injunction as the case continues to play out in federal court in the Western District of Louisiana.
Preliminary injunction here.
Full opinion on preliminary injunction here
Original filing from Missouri and Louisiana asking for injunction here.
